Underplayed Gems

The End of Eden (1986)

The End of Eden poster
Directed by
Rick Lomba
Genre
documentary film
Country
South Africa
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

How it feels

This documentary shows how cattle ranching and international bank policies are destroying ecosystems in southern Africa. It includes footage of harmful pesticides, overgrazing and interviews with people working in conservation and agriculture.

urgentsoberingeducationalgraphiccriticalbleakinformativeconcerned

What happens

The End of Eden is a 1986 environmental documentary in which the South African filmmaker Rick Lomba (1950–1994) showed the rapid degradation of Africa's ecosystems. The introduction of cattle ranching and the beef industry in the southern African landscape is featured prominently within the film as a primary source of devastation to the land. The film is severely critical of the policies of the World Bank and other international banks in advocating and funding African industrial agricultural and cattle breeding projects in an attempt to boost African economies. It portrays graphically the otherwise forbidden pesticides used to try to eradicate the tsetse fly, which he describes as the last bastion of defence the wilderness has against the encroachment of civilisation, and the erosion and overgrazing that results. Some of it is filmed from a microlight aircraft which he used to approach these areas. Numerous interviews with persons engaged in conservation, big-game hunting, hunger relief and agriculture are presented as well as some economically and environmentally sustainable alternatives such as wildlife farming. The documentary was written and directed by Rick Lomba, produced by Rick Lomba Productions and narrated by American actor Jeff Folger. It was funded by the First National Bank and appeared on television for about three years, after which it inexplicably disappeared from circulation. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.